Credit growth resumes pace

The volume and value of consumer credit applications increased nearly a third year-on-year during the first quarter of 2017 as a result of surge in mortgage and personal finance applications, according to the latest data by the Kingdom’s credit reporting agency.

The number of credit applications grew 29 percent in number and 30 percent in value during the first three months of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier, the Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC) said in its quarterly Credit Index report. Driving the growth was applications for mortgages, which grew 47 percent and saw their highest growth in the southern half of the country including Phnom Penh.

Applications for personal finance saw strong growth spread evenly across the country, with a 28-percent year-on-year increase during the first quarter, according to the report. Credit card applications, however, saw an 11 percent decline nationwide during the first quarter, compared with the same period in 2016.

Sothearoath Oeur, interim CEO of CBC, said the growth signified a return to Cambodia’s galloping pace of credit expansion after an unusually slow fourth quarter in 2016 that saw just 1 percent growth in total credit applications by value.

“The first quarter of the year, as usual, saw a significant growth of credit applications, though credit cards seemed to slow down compared to the previous quarter,” Oeur said in a statement.

The total outstanding balance of consumer loans nationwide amounted to $3.6 billion as of March 2017.